4.27.2026 Regular Board Meeting

Mrs. Stephey led the Pledge of Allegiance. 

Ms. Spence conducted Roll Call. Dr. Beres was not present at the time of Roll Call but arrived at 6:39pm. 

A motion was granted by Mr. Kisabeth and seconded by Dr. McBride to discuss the agenda. Mr. Williamson requested an amendment for section 8.6 to remove Chelsea Arbogast as the ESY teacher for the 25-26 school year as she is no longer interested in this position. Mr. Perez motioned for the amendment and Mr. Kisabeth seconded. All members approved to more forward with the amended agenda. 

High School Senior Decorated Graduation Cap Proposal: 

Brayden Miklovic, Proposal Manager (Present at meeting) 

Evelyn Weickert, Key Club Vice-President, Former Student Board Member (Present at meeting) 

Elise Johnston, Student Council Senior Class President (unable to attend meeting but fully supportive of proposal) 

About the proposal: Celebrate & honor personal achievements, Embrace & recognize culture & heritage, Foster individuality, confidence, and creativity, setting us up for future success 

Local Schools that allow decorated caps: Norwalk High School, New Riegel High School, Fostoria High School, Mohawk High School, Tiffin University (Brayden called and spoke to each secretary and/or principal to confirm this list is correct) 

Addressing opposing concerns: Uniformity(we don't all want to be the same person), Permanence(design can be removed), Integrity(set of approved guidelines) 

Caps Guidelines (Subject to change): Designs must follow the school dress code, Graduates MUST get pre-approval for Cap Designs prior to ANY alterations. If a graduate reports to the ceremony with a rejected or unapproved cap design, they will be asked to remove the design and may be unable to participate in the ceremony. 

Current Board Policy: Code IKFB "Graduation Exercises" "Students participating in the ceremony must wear the prescribed cap and gown" "Students whose decorum is disruptive or brings undue attention to themselves may not be awarded their diploma at the commencement exercises" 

Board Discussion after presentation: Mr. Perez asked if the proposal went through the student government. Brayden responded did not officially but it was deeply discussed. Dr. McBride asked for the process to be discussed. Brayden stated this idea was shared in February via paper documents to students. Due to the fact students are in and out of the high school on a daily basis a digital copy was sent out to everyone on February 15th. Out of the student body that was only 1 student voiced a "no" prefer not to sign the petition. Mr. Kisabeth asked if the students have the support from staff, parents, grandparents, etc. Brayden said staff are supportive, currently Mrs. Tuite and Mr. Bauman are here in the audience. Mr. Kisabeth asked about the process for the cap to be removed if needed. Evelyn Weickert responded with it is a simple attachment inside the cap. Mr. Perez mentioned that when the cap and gown is purchased the students already have the option to personalize the tassel they want. Evelyn agreed that students already have that option to personalize the tassel but that needs to be bought online. This allows for creativity. Dr. McBride asked about barriers. Brayden responded by stating the district has never done this before. Also, this allows freedom for the student body but the guidelines need to be enforced. Mr. Perez asked about the timeline because the item is not on the agenda to vote on. Dr. McBride asked for the Board Policy page to be displayed again on the projector. Mrs. Stephey does not think we need to formally vote on this item. Dr. McBride mentioned the policy is left open for interpretation and it allows the Superintendent and Administration to decide. Mr. Williamson mentioned that most districts do not have a specific policy. Dr. McBride thanked the students for a job well done. Presenting to the Board of Education, Superintendent and Administration is not an easy task. Mr. Kisabeth agreed with Dr. McBride. Mr. Kisabeth said he is more traditional. The text used at graduation as not changed in years. Parents take pride in watching their student walk across the stage. He is concerned graduation will be more casual than formal. Mrs. Stephey said graduation is traditional and enjoyable. She does not have a problem with the decorated caps. She is concerned about the students that may not have money to purchase the attachment. Will the district have any extra attachments available for students that are in need? Dr. McBride said she is willing to donate additional attachments to have available for students. She is also willing to donate supplies for the students to be able to decorate. Mrs. Tuite said she will coordinate an evening for students to come to Columbian to decorate caps. One barrier Mrs. Tuite can foresee is accessibility. The admin team will review each cap. The caps will be held at the building until the day of graduation. At that time the caps will need to be moved to TU for graduation. There will need to be a team in place to help with the movement of caps. Dr. Beres mentioned this is a great way for students to be creative and individual as well. Dr. McBride is willing to donate time to help. Mr. Perez expressed concerns about students trying to take over graduation. The BOE cannot approve what is on the cap. This needs to be left to the Administration to approve. Dr. Beres said she would be willing to be present as an individual and not as a board member. The student population also needs to be involved in reviewing the caps as well. Mrs. Tuite is appreciative of the support. An answer will be provided to the student population in the next few days. Mr. Kisabeth appreciates the student's efforts this evening. 

District One Plan 2026-2029: 

Mr. Drew Bauman 

Mrs. Kate Focht (unable to attend due to softball game) 

Purpose of Presentation: introduce the 2026-2029 District One plan, context for Ohio's improvement framework, key district priorities, outline how progress will be monitored 

What is the Ohio One Plan: unified district improvement plan, aligns all improvement efforts into one system, Ohio Improvement Process(OIP), Emphasizes: Data-informed decision making, evidence-based strategies, continuous improvement 

Approach to education is built through DLT, BLT, implement and monitor 

The district will strengthen structures which will increase consistency across all buildings.This will allow for clarity in expectations and alignment of practices.

2 priority areas:

- student growth and instruction (literacy across the district)

- family engagement (investment in school and community) 

Establish (1st year) Implement (2nd year) Sustain (3rd year) 

Priority #1:Student Growth and Instruction 

Goal: 100% of students meet growth expectation by 2029

Focus areas: align instructional framework, ongoing monitoring and support, identity ways to support, growth of all students 

Priority #2: Family Engagement 

Goal: increase family engagement by 10% by 2029 (we don't have a baseline number yet) 

Focus areas: consistent district-wide communication systems, increased awareness of opportunities, family feedback and participation 

Key Strategies: the need for commonality, establish it and share. Strengthen staff and leadership capacity, collective teacher advocacy-rooted in data, ensure communication, idenitify measures. 

Measuring Progress: Student measures: common language that all buildings utilize. Regular monitoring, date by a specific point in the school year. 

Next Steps: collect baseline data, share updates of progress: identify areas that is going well and areas for improvement 

In Review: Dr. McBride asked about the implementation of the 10% goal. How will the district gather data? Mr. Bauman said by shared communication, survey, parent/teacher conferences, etc. Mr. Perez asked Mr. Bauman to explain what the One Plan actually means. Mr. Bauman said it is required by the state of Ohio. TCS narrowed the focus to literacy. Student and adult measures to make progress. Mr. Perez mentioned that literacy will help the value added score. Will additional testing be needed for students? Mr. Bauman responded that additional testing will not occur. Buildings already are doing diagnostic testing currently. 660 score means (1), 670 means (2). Value added is more individualized. Dr. Beres asked if this will allow opportunity for teachers to collaborate and learn the assessments. Mr. Bauman said yes but time is the restraint. What we teach and how we teach, we want to allow teachers the freedom to personalize. Mr. Bauman said it is important to be consistent and professional. Mr. Kisabeth mentioned vertical programming K-12. Mr. Bauman mentioned that is the overall goal but without formal meeting time it can be challenging. Mr. Kisabeth mentioned the district has 3.2 stars and there was growth but that was not enough. Mrs. Stephey said she is not a fan of state testing. Mr. Perez asked if the state is required to monitor this One Plan. Mr. Bauman responded with the data and evaluation can be reported back to the Board of Education. Mr. Williamson stated this is currently replacing the CCIP. Each district is responsible to develop, improve and report for federal funding. The CCIP is currently going away. This plan will be submitted to the treasurer to approve the funding. Superintendent will approve the final step. Collaboration to review data but time is limited. District admin need to be creative to figure out how we can free up teachers to analyze data. Mr. Williamson said we will review the expectation to learn, how the material is delivered, what can be down if no improvement occurs. Terms like RTI and MTSS are used often. Previous positions in the district will be evaluated. 

Mr. Williamson thanked the senior group of students for their presentation. He met with this group individually as well. He thanked Mr. Bauman for the One Plan presentation. He has been involved in the meetings for this plan to be developed. Teachers need to be bold and courageous to support each other. Approach everything as a team. Mr. Williamson provided a website for reference: protectpublicservice.org. This explains the other side of what could happen if the real estate taxes go away. Property tax reduction by 20 million dollars: this hinders Fire/EMS, DD services, Mental Health, library, senior services, local roads, etc. Not enough messages are being displayed on this topic. Recently, Mr. Williamson attended a regional meeting where this information was discussed. Mr. Williamson thanked all the donors on the agenda this evening. Recently, the district received a call from the Tiffin Community Foundation and the stadium committee donated enough money to pay the remainder of the turf project. We continue to monitor the district spending, this includes, supplies, staffing, etc. Erate funding is completing. We currently have 3 different phone providers. A decision has recently been decided on a local company. 

Currently the true days cash is 189.2 days as of March 31st, 2026. We received the real estate taxes in March. Additional revenue was received that was not expected: Medicaid claim of around $250,000. Ms. Spence thanked the Tiffin Community Foundation for the turf project. Mr. Williamson has been reviewing each requisition in detail and making sure all requests are necessary for either this year or next year. 

No public comment. 

Dr. Beres mentioned a resignation that is currently on the agenda. Abigail Young has been an asset to the Board of Education. Dr. McBride mentioned that Abigail's resignation is a loss to the district and BOE. She has spent endless amount of hours and time in the district. Mr. Perez mentioned that Abigail and her family helped with the graduation flags last year downtown. Mr. Kisabeth mentioned that Abigail was beneficial last year when president. 

Good luck to all the teachers as they finish out the school year. 

Time in: 7:53pm

No action taken 

Time out: 8:51pm

The next regular meeting will be May 18th, 2026 in the Tiffin Middle School Cafetorium.

Meeting started: 6:30pm
Meeting ended: 8:51pm